This is the 567th edition of the Spotlight on Green News & Views (previously known as the Green Diary Rescue). Here is the July 21 edition. Inclusion of a story in the Spotlight does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of it. The Spotlight will be on a one-week hiatus Aug. 4 as I will be attending Netroots Nation in New Orleans.
OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES
PHScott writes—The Daily Bucket: Who's Making These Tracks? “Animal tracks - one more clue to our expanding knowledge of the natural world. What animal passed thru in the dead of night? What bird landed here? What silent creature rose from the ocean and crawled over the beach? We cover lots of ground today, tracks everywhere — from sea to shining sea [...] Right now in my North FL woods, I'm getting lots armadillo tracks in the sandy driveway by the house. Almost nightly, the same path, coming up the hill and then around the yard to the upper woods — using my foot-trails thru the woods of course. Here's the full set of Armadillo tracks - hind feet are larger with toes 1 & 5 up and away from the 3 middle toes. Front feet track inside the rear and aren’t so obvious. One can tell the gait from the pattern of feet as in the bounding of a rabbit or squirrel and the left-right pacing like a dog.”
Pakalolo writes—Climate Change is Coming For The Internet: “Rising sea levels, caused by the thermal expansion of ocean water and Arctic amplification due to climate change, “are set to damage fiber optic cables, submerge network points of presence (PoPs) and surround data centers, researchers have warned” ( Ramakrishnan Durairajan, Carol Barford, and Paul Barford, Lights Out: Climate Change Risk to Internet Infrastructure). These changes will not arrive in the year 2100, which is the extremely selfish delusion that we can kick the climate change can of worms down the road for our children and grandchildren to solve. No, these changes to our internet infrastructure will be here within 15 years and like other expected impacts to our civilization, we are not prepared for it. Fiber optic cables are buried underground, ‘which - unlike submarine cables - are not designed for prolonged periods of submersion.’ DataDynamics reports on the findings.”
jeremybloom writes—Congress tries, fails, to destroy ANOTHER national monument: “Just days after it was revealed that the Trump administration had explicitly slashed 90% of the public land from the Bears' Ears National Monument to benefit mining and oil, the GOP Congress took another stab at the very idea of protected public lands. An Arizona Congressman introduced an amendment to defund the Ironwood Forest National Monument, but it fell just 27 votes short of passage. 193 Republicans voted to kill the monument, which sponsor Paul Gosar (R-AZ) called an unconstitutional ‘political land grab’. ‘Unfortunately,’ said Gosar's Arizona colleague Raul Grijalva, ‘this amendment views these rare landscapes as commodities, only available for extraction of resources and nothing more. It's kind of a corporate-raider public approach and mentality to our shared public assets and lands’.”
CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Kestrel writes—Dawn Chorus: This & That: “I’ve no new birding insights to report or photos to share because some idiot broke into my car by smashing to smithereens my passenger side window and said idiot stole my camera. My insurance claim is being processed.The bird you see up top is a Vermilion Flycatcher. It’s a vagrant for my area and birders flocked to see it and photograph it when it showed up a couple of years ago. He’s a beauty. More common flycatchers that you might see in your neck of the woods are the Black Phoebe and the Say’s Phoebe.”
Besame writes—Daily Bucket: Researcher puts "the 'crow' in necrophilia": “Scientists need to follow their research findings wherever they lead, even if it is surprisingly goth AF. Even when the weird happens while the BBC is with you in Seattle filming crows for a story about a little girl in the UK who receives gifts from crows. Even when the crows being filmed go off script and show you something different. Kaeli Swift is a corvid researcher at University of Washington studying the thanatology of crows (crow funerals) for her PhD dissertation. She tells the story of how the crow behaved for the BBC film crew in a blog post (Putting the “Crow” in Necrophilia) and also in her paper published in the journal Phil Trans B.* Swift has studied crow funerals for years and thought she knew what to expect when the BBC came to film. She’d place a dead crow on the ground and wait for the first crow to come and notice. Then more crows would swarm in to perch nearby with loud caws of alarm. But this time was different. [...] Swift’s previous work suggested that crows gather around a dead crow as a means of learning about dangerous places and predators. Now, after experimentally testing the response of hundreds of crows over several years, she also has some ideas about why crows copulate with dead crows. Such actions have been observed (but not studied) in elephants, dolphins, whales, primates, and other animals.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket: Hawk vs. Crow: “In recent months, we’d often seen two young red-tailed hawks swirling in the air above our house and neighborhood. Crows and an occasional little brown bird badgered the hawks, chasing them out of the nearby trees. Sometimes the hawks perused my yard from nearby tree tops, until the crows sussed them out. Sometimes the hawks perused my yard from nearby tree tops, until the crows sussed them out.But the other day, I was on the driving range at the golf course. I could see a crow on top of the highest power line pole, probably laughing at the hopeful golfers whom appeared to be practicing the little-known zen pose, The Awkward Lunge.Then along comes the red tailed hawk. Out of fifty power line poles to choose from, it decides it must sit on the very pole where the crow is currently in repose. It lands and shoulders the crow aside. The crow starts cawing loudly and flapping its wings. Then the crow counterattacks.”
6412093 writes—The Daily Bucket--The Glowing Fish: “During the latter half of the last century, I was but a callow youth. In a Dickensonian episode, my parents forced me at age 8 to become Warren Buffet’s slave, as a paper boy for one of Buffet’s papers, the Omaha Sun. I braved the darkness before Wednesday’s dawn, once a week. People let their dogs run loose at night, and the merciless hounds would chase me on my used, slow, one-speed Schwinn bicycle. During Omaha winters I often trudged through six feet of snow. Yet I delivered 107 papers every Wednesday morning. If my collections went well, I pocketed $8.03 every three weeks. I spent my vast fortune on a fish tank, pumps, colored gravel, a small ceramic castle, and pretty tropical fish. I loved the neon tetra fish, which seemed to glow like aquatic fireflies, with red and blue lines on their sides and tails. I splurged on a whole school of them; a dozen or more.”
OceanDiver writes—Sadness in the Salish Sea: another dead baby in the SRKW Orca family: “A grieving mother has been carrying her newborn baby since it died an hour after his birth on Tuesday. She hasn’t eaten or rested in five days and nights. She’s called J35 or Talequah by humans, although among her own kind we can’t know her name. Talequah is an orca, or killer whale, a member of the J pod family in the declining Southern Resident Killer Whale (SRKW) population of the Salish Sea. Some people would say Oh she’s just an animal, she can’t feel grief. Some would say Well that’s too bad the population is declining but there are more important problems in the world. Or we can take a few moments to pay attention to the extinction taking place before our eyes in slow motion, and share the grief this family is suffering. And perhaps take whatever small actions we can to address their plight, on their behalf. The night Talequah’s baby died, a local resident reported a group of five to six female orcas gathered at the mouth of Eagle Cove near the Southern tip of San Juan as the sun set on July 24. For nearly two hours the whales formed a tight-knit circle, staying at the surface of the water. They appeared to be directly centered in the half-moon’s beam, even as it moved. The islander watching could not see if the baby was kept afloat but said the gathering looked like a ritual or ceremony. www.islandssounder.com/...”
OceanDiver writes—The Daily Bucket - mews homecoming: “The only gulls I’ve been seeing in the bay for months are our resident Glaucous-wingeds, a big pushy grey-backed hurky-billed gull with a classic seagull voice. GW gulls are the only breeders in the Salish Sea, they are the most abundant, and they are found in every habitat — out at sea, along the shore, in fields, in towns — so you can understand why they are thought of as THE gull in this area. I like Glaucous-wingeds, luckily. But our other, part-time, gulls have their own appealing qualities, like the delicate and fierce Heermann’s I bucketed about when they appeared a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately one of my favorite gulls, the Mews, aren’t really gone from my local beach for much more time than Glaucous-wingeds, for me — the GWs are currently out on their breeding islands offshore raising their chicks. A few young GWs meander into the bay but they are scarce from June to August. The Mew gulls depart in May and return in July, having completed their breeding in Alaska and the Yukon more quickly than the Glaucous-wingeds. So, since Mews are here ten months out of twelve, I like to think of this as their home.”
Pam LaPier writes—Animal Protective Foundation - Schenectady, NY: “This is a series of diaries highlighting animal rescues around the country and noting and celebrating the work they do to help animals who have no voices but ours to speak for them. I have decided to make this a daily series because there are so many wonderful rescues out there who need human help and weekly just doesn't seem to be enough. I have long wanted to start a rescue but lack the resources or time available to do so right now so this is my attempt to do my part. I hope that these rescues will benefit from the kindness and benevolence of the community here at Daily Kos. They are amazing organizations and worthy of Kossack attention and care. [...] This organization is from my old neighborhood in Schenectady, NY. They do good work.”
Pam LaPier writes—TEXAS MARINE MAMMAL STRANDING NETWORK - Galveston, TX: “The following items on our wish list are needed for the daily operations of the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network and all donated items and funds will go toward the mission of TMMSN of rescue and rehabilitation, research and education with regard to the marine mammals of the Texas Gulf Coast. The following list contains some specific needs of our Network, but is by no means an exhaustive list or is meant to be restrictive in any way. The websites that the items are linked to serve as a convenient way for the public and supporters to view and order the specific item listed.”
PassionFruit Flowers writes—Daily Bucket: Summertime Garden Flowers: “This is a pictorial bucket of regular and succulent blooms in my yard in East County San Diego. Due to drought, I am placing more emphasis on expanding my succulent garden and decreasing other plants.”
CLIMATE CHAOS
ian douglas rushlau writes—'Historically unprecedented summer heat' will no longer be unprecedented: “Writing in the most recent issue of Nature Climate Change, lead author Andrew King and colleagues inform us that the data tell us a grim story of rising temperatures, even if we somehow avoid the worst case scenarios for carbon combustion induced heating of the planet: On average, in the simulated 1.5oC [increase over current] world, 90 million people (or 11% of the estimated 2010 population of the continent) are exposed to hot summers beyond the observed record (that is, half of the summers would have more than 90 million people exposed to historically unprecedented summer average temperatures). (pg. 550) The exposure of populations to historically unprecedented summer heat increases dramatically even at the relatively low global warming levels of the Paris Agreement. (pg. 550). Few of us realize the scope of the public health effects caused by these extreme heat events, but they are dramatic. How bad will this get? According to the World Health Organization: Between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.”
OshkoshDave writes—Facebook deems factual global warming video "too political": “Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech University, an evangelical Christian, and one of the best science communicators in the country. She hosts a series called ‘Global Weirding’ for PBS Digital Studios. Her latest episode ‘Renewable energy is way too expensive, right?’ will not be promoted on Facebook because it ‘has too much political content.’ Please watch and share, and (politely) let Facebook know the censoring of factual science is unacceptable. Thank you.”
Extreme Weather & Natural Phenomena
Franks Human writes—Heat Wave (with surprising poll results so far about heat experiences): “We’re heading back into another excessive heat warning here in LA. This time it won’t “break up,” but rather slowly dissipate away next weekend, and then we’ll have more moisture coming in again to provide more humidity next week as temperatures do cool. That July 6 heat wave nearly—and this isn’t hyperbole—killed my cat and me. I don’t have air conditioning. The local Weather Underground stations, which were associated with KCAL, showed 119 degrees that day here, 111 with a heat index of 120 the next day, and then humidity increased on the third day, while temperatures dipped into the frigid 104-108 range in my area. My cat went into the early signs of heat stroke on that Saturday night (the second day in the list above), and I was able to monitor, cool him with water bottles that were cold (he hugged one)… Around 2AM he was better, and after that he did a lot better.”
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
Dan Bacher writes—Coalition Slams Delta Tunnels: “On July 26, a coalition of organizations from fishing, environmental, tribal, Delta, and business communities submitted a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) demanding stronger flow standards in its update of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan—a document that sets regulatory standards for water quality and flow criteria in Central Valley Rivers and the San Francisco Bay Estuary, including the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan’s updates consist of two parts—the first (“Phase I”), proposes final flow standards for the San Joaquin River and three of its lower tributaries, in addition to setting new south Delta salinity standards, according to a joint press release from the Bay Institute, Friends of the San Francisco Estuary, and the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. “The second (‘Phase II’), currently exists as a draft framework for a long-awaited update to standards for the Sacramento River and its tributaries, through-Delta flows, and San Francisco Bay inflow.In the letter, the 58 groups and businesses agree that the Water Board’s proposed flow criteria for Phase I and Phase II are insufficient to protect and restore fisheries and ecosystems in the Central Valley and the Bay-Delta Estuary, according to recommendations from state and federal fishery managers and independent scientists.”
Dan Bacher writes—Finance Authority's Request for $1.6 Billion Loan from Trump Admin.: “The Delta Counties Coalition (DCC), an alliance of the counties of Contra Costa, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano and Yolo, today issued a statement opposing the Delta Conveyance Finance Authority’s (DCFA) request for a $1.6 billion loan from the Trump Administration through an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program for the construction of Governor Jerry Brown’s Delta Tunnels project. The coalition described the controversial project as the ‘State of California’s ill-conceived proposal to build twin tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta known as “WaterFix”.’ Opponents say the project to divert Sacramento River from the North Delta by building two massive 35 mile long tunnels would destroy the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem and West Coast fisheries. ‘The Metropolitan Water District and other tunnel proponents that make up the DCFA, haven’t even started the project and they are already seeking a federal deal,’ said Sacramento County Supervisor and DCC Chair Don Nottoli.”
Dan Bacher writes—58 Groups Sign on to Letter Demanding Stronger Bay-Delta Flow Standards: “On July 26, a coalition of organizations from fishing, environmental, tribal, Delta, and business communities submitted a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board (Water Board) demanding stronger flow standards in its update of the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan—a document that sets regulatory standards for water quality and flow criteria in Central Valley Rivers and the San Francisco Bay Estuary, including the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan’s updates consist of two parts—the first (‘Phase I’), proposes final flow standards for the San Joaquin River and three of its lower tributaries, in addition to setting new south Delta salinity standards, according to a joint press release from the Bay Institute, Friends of the San Francisco Estuary, and the San Francisco Crab Boat Owners Association. ‘The second (“Phase II’), currently exists as a draft framework for a long-awaited update to standards for the Sacramento River and its tributaries, through-Delta flows, and San Francisco Bay inflow. In the letter, the 58 groups and businesses agree that the Water Board’s proposed flow criteria for Phase I and Phase II are insufficient to protect and restore fisheries and ecosystems in the Central Valley and the Bay-Delta Estuary, according to recommendations from state and federal fishery managers and independent scientists.”
Dan Bacher writes—Coalition tells Jeff Denham, Ryan Zinke: Hands off state water rights and Delta flows!: “As Congressman Jeff Denham was touring Don Pedro and New Melones reservoirs with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke on July 20, conservation, Tribal and environmental justice advocates held a press conference outside Denham’s Office In Modesto on July 20 to voice their opposition to three poison pill riders to an Interior Spending Bill that threaten to destroy salmon and other West Coast fisheries and eviscerate California water and environmental laws.”
RMuse writes—Michigan residents warned to stop drinking poisoned water: “Suffice it to say, with Republicans in charge of the government and a majority of the states, the concept of ‘Clean Water’ is now almost exclusively the purview of special interests with no interest in protecting water for human consumption. It should be no great shock, then, that two Michigan communities had such ‘dangerously high levels of industrial chemicals’ in their drinking water that it prompted officials to issue an emergency alert warning citizens to stop using the water. The residents of Parchment and Cooper Townships were warned late Thursday: ‘To immediately stop using their water for drinking, cooking, making baby formula and food, or rinsing fruits and vegetables … and cautioned that boiling it would not remove PFAS, nor would filters.” Officials also called on “residents using the City of Parchment’s water supply, which includes Cooper Township, to help spread this message to your neighbors’.”
WILDERNESS, NATIONAL FORESTS AND PARKS & OTHER PUBLIC LANDS
Ojibwa writes—Public Lands: The Swan River Nature Trail (Photo Diary): Photo diary.
ENERGY
ChesterEnergy writes—The Sad! Story Conveyed Through Nine Years of Trump Tweeting About Energy: “Because the Internet is both a terrific and sad place, we have at our fingertips the ability to search through Donald Trump's entire Twitter history for specific words and phrases. While this tool has been employed to demonstrate that Trump has tweeted more frequently about Rosie O'Donnell than his wife and count the different people he's called losers, I haven't seen anyone search through the tens of thousands of tweets to trace out the path of Trump's publicly expressed opinions on the energy industry. While the major points of Trump's energy policies are known (coal is beautiful, drill wherever we can, and American wants energy dominance), what else can we learn about how the President feels about various energy technologies and policies by looking at tweets from the days before his political career, while on the campaign trail, and since being elected?”
Karen Feridun writes—Russia's Ties to U.S. Natural Gas and Petrochemical Industries: “The Washington Post reported today that Maria Butina, who has been charged with being a Russian agent, received backing from Konstantin Nikolaev, a Russian billionaire with investments in U.S. companies. The article mentions that he serves on the board of the Houston-based American Ethane Company. Last November, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of a $26 billion deal between the American Ethane Company and China’s Nanshan Group. Trump was reportedly nodding and clapping during the ceremony. Earlier this month, The Guardian reported other Russian ties to the company. Vladimir Putin’s former Chief of Staff, Alexander Voloshin, has “an undisclosed stake” in the company, as did billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich. Voloshin is reported to have maintained contact with many in the West, including Henry Kissinger who advises Trump on Russia, according to the piece.”
Fossil Fuels:
Meteor Blades writes—Study shows in detail the extent of coal industry's devastating mountaintop removals: “A team of researchers from SkyTruth, Duke University, and Appalachian Voices has just published a study in PLOS One showing in detail the full extent of surface mining in the region, mostly mountaintop removal. In the past 40 years, more than 7 percent of Central Appalachia has been cleared. That’s more than 2,300 square miles, an area the size of Delaware. Using 10,000 Landsat images, the researchers created a timeline for active mining, providing other researchers and environmental advocates with useful data that so far has been difficult to find. They hope that data will contribute to an understanding of health and environmental impacts. That information is valuable since the Trump regime last year ended a comprehensive, federally funded, partially finished scientific study of the impacts of mountaintop removal.”
Renewables, Efficiency & Conservation
ImpeccableLiberalCredentials writes—Vote for More Solar Power on Farms in MN-08, Vote Sorensen! ”When you are looking for ‘brazen, unabashed environmentalism’ look no further than Soren Sorensen, candidate for US House in Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District: ...brazen, unabashed environmentalism. Investment in renewables was the way forward for the state, Sorensen said, and should be invested in with gusto as the industry creates tens of thousands of jobs. "We have not put our money where our mouth is when it comes to investing in renewable energy. In our towns, in Bemidji and Hibbing or these other Range towns, we invest multiples of what we put into that solar plant in Mountain Iron, we put that into hockey arenas," Sorensen said. ‘So we do need to stop tippy-toeing around, or what have you, with our investment in creating a climate we can survive in by making a just transition into something other than fossil fuels immediately’.”
GreenPowerCA writes—Take action! Kavanaugh Appointment + State Assembly Bill Threaten California’s Clean Energy Future: “A proposed California state assembly bill and the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court could provide a deadly combination to California’s clean energy mandates, according to top level energy and constitutional experts. If you are a California resident, we ask that you take a moment to send a letter to your representatives telling them to vote NO on AB 813. Loretta Lynch, former president of the California Public Utilities Commission, has gone on record calling State Assembly Bill 813 ‘a bad idea.’ The bill, which would enter California into a regional electricity grid comprised of several western states, could open California’s energy market to Enron-style market manipulation and cede control to fossil fuel interests and Trump appointees, according to Lynch. ‘The same forces that brought us the Enron scandal are back,’ Lynch said in a just released video appeal. The regional grid created by AB 813, she said, “will be completely unaccountable to the people of California.”
Pipelines & Other Oil and Gas Transport
Karen Feridun writes—Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! Ok, No Tigers, but ETP's Ludicrous Claim Lands PA Woman in Jail: “Ellen Gerhart, a retired special education teacher from central Pennsylvania, is in jail tonight. This afternoon, four officers with the Huntingdon County sheriff’s department arrived on the Gerhart’s property to make the arrest acting in response to a motion filed by Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline company notorious for the Dakota Access pipeline. The company is claiming that the 63-year old grandmother was baiting bears and mountain lions onto a pipeline easement the company established using eminent domain to take the family’s land. There have been no sightings of mountain lions in Pennsylvania for 130 years. The Gerhart’s property is on the path of the company’s controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline, a 350-mile hazardous liquids pipeline that would carry natural gas liquids (NGLs) like ethane and propane. The project has been receiving a lot of attention for sinkholes that have opened up in backyards in Chester County and more than 180 drilling mud spills caused by horizontal directional drilling to lay the pipeline. The spills have fouled private water supplies and punctured an aquifer.”
REGULATIONS & PROTECTIONS
Alyosha Karamazov writes—Scott Pruitt's Loyalists Kicked Out of EPA by John Kelly, Says DailyBeast.com: “It appears we weren’t the only ones who had problems with EPA Head Scott Pruitt. Turns out John Kelly had long been lobbying for his ouster. And once gone, Kelly wasn’t finished. He promptly took out the rest of the trash….. Of course this will have no effect on EPA policy, as such. And they were ousted mostly because they caused headaches for John Kelly. But it sure is nice to see the supercilious, arrogant, pricks axed. The Trump White House has moved quickly to force out a trio of staffers loyal to former scandal-plagued Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation. [...] According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Chief of Staff John Kelly gave the greenlight to the efforts to remove the three officials after Pruitt’s resignation from the EPA this month. Kelly, along with other senior aides to President Donald Trump, campaigned for months for Pruitt’s firing. As The Daily Beast reported in early April, Kelly had a tense phone call with Pruitt, telling the now-former EPA chief that the torrent of scandals needed to stop. And Donald Trump kept him on. Knew his White House staff were in near-constant conflict with Pruitt, and said basically, ‘Fuck you. He stays’.”
AGRICULTURE, FOOD & GARDENING
Downheah Mississippi writes—Saturday Morning Garden Blogging Vol. 14.30 Deep in the Dog Days: “We are indeed ‘deep in the dog days’ downheah. Day after day of mid-to-upper 90s, with soul sucking humidity since about the middle of June….what rain we have had has come in the form of occasional ‘popup’ storms that just sit and dump rain for an hour. Outside of those storms, we’ve been pretty dry. All-in-all, a pretty typical summer. My tomatoes have not been appreciative of this weather lately. The constant high humidity, the sudden downpours, and >70 deg nighttime temps have all taken their toll. The 1st pic was taken the 3rd week in June: There’s good fruit set and lots of green. The 2nd pic was taken last weekend. What a difference a month makes! There is still healthy growth and fruit set at the top, but most all of the lower foliage has been lost to heat stress and septoria.”
TRANSPORTATION & INFRASTRUCTURE
Meteor Blades writes—Trump regime readies plan to ax fuel-efficiency rules, kill CA's authority over tailpipe emissions: “While the squatter in the White House has been cozying up to Tsar Vlad, tweeting ALL-CAPS shrieks at the president of Iran, calling the Robert Mueller investigation a hoax, whining about tape recordings of potentially illegal activities, and watching as staff members stampede for the exits, the Trump regime’s assault on the environment continues without abatement. The latest—and potentially one of the most damaging assaults—has been expected for the past year-and-a-half and could be officially announced as early as this week. In this attack the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will jointly propose trashing stricter fuel-efficiency standards negotiated early in the Obama administration, revoking California’s Clean Air Act authority to regulate automobile greenhouse gas emissions separately from the federal standards, and stopping the state from requiring that a certain level of electric cars be sold each year.”
RMuse writes—Trump will have blood on his hands by eliminating California's emissions waiver: “It is no secret that Republicans despise California because the majority of its people hold beliefs contrary to everything conservatives love. It is particularly true that Trump hates California whether it is because the state’s economy is humming along after the people voted to raise taxes, or because the majority of the people recognize that Trump is a worthless charlatan, or because the people love and desire clean air and water enough to support environmental regulations. There is not much Trump can do about the majority of Californians detesting him on general principles, something he knew before his poorly attended inauguration. But he and Republicans have punished the people for raising taxes by eliminating their ability to deduct them on their federal income tax returns. Now Trump is preparing to punish Californians’ health and welfare, and their economic lives, by revoking the Golden State’s authority to set its own vehicle emission and fuel efficiency standards; actions that would provide no benefits whatsoever for the people. It is just one reason why the majority of Californians abhor Trump.”
MISCELLANY
Angmar writes—The Daily Bucket: Total Lunar Eclipse July 27 with webcam [& Open thread]: “The Longest Full ‘Blood Moon’ Of The Century Is Happening This Month. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes within Earth's umbra (shadow). As the eclipse begins, Earth's shadow first darkens the Moon slightly. Then, the shadow begins to ‘cover’ part of the Moon, turning it a dark red-brown color(typically—the color can vary based on atmospheric conditions). The Moon appears to be reddish because of Rayleigh scattering (the same effect that causes sunsets to appear reddish) and the refraction of that light by Earth's atmosphere into its umbra.”